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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22509487">Words Can Kill</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterYouThanMe/pseuds/BetterYouThanMe'>BetterYouThanMe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Harry Potter Drabbles [51]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(one of my favorite stories that i've written), Bullying, Character Study, Light Angst, She struggles with her gift of prophecy, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, not as heavy as it seems everything is mentioned in passing or shown briefly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:53:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,155</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22509487</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterYouThanMe/pseuds/BetterYouThanMe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into Sybill's life as she deals with friendships, love, life, and the voices that threaten to make themselves known through her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Harry Potter Drabbles [51]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/826257</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Words Can Kill</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aged seven, Sybill is sitting on the rusty old swing set by herself. None of the other children wanted to play with her, so she simply watched them all run around the pristine playground. Watched as they pushed each other on the swing set. Sybill hadn't yet mastered the art of swinging by herself so she dragged her feet in the dirt, idly swaying her body back and forth.</p>
<p>Tears threatened to spill, but she wouldn't allow them. She couldn't let the words they spoke that cut through her like glass get to her. Or, at least, she couldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing the wound.</p>
<p>"Hey!" some boy snickered. "Get lost, freak."</p>
<p>Sybill sniffled in response as she slowly lifted herself from the metal swing. It creaked, almost as if it was saying goodbye to her. Although it was horrible, Sybill couldn't help but mutter to herself that she hoped the boy would get hurt. The words came out and stung her mouth. Deep down in the back of her mind, Sybill knew they weren't her words.</p>
<p>And when he ended up in the hospital with a broken arm, rumors started to spread. It happened long after Sybill left the playground and not a single soul heard her, but somehow, she ended up with the blame. Her family moved soon after.</p>
<hr/>
<p>At the age of eleven, Sybill trotted up onto the magnificent Hogwarts Express. Child-like wonder beamed through her at the thought of finally escaping to a place that would accept her. She couldn't be the 'weird' one now since everyone here would have magic.</p>
<p>She was still hopeful as she heard laughter and whispers as she moved through the train. A little less hopeful when she sat by herself in an empty compartment. And her dreams were absolutely crushed when people visibly moved to sit away from her at the Ravenclaw table.</p>
<p>They hadn't even talked to her. No one <em>knew </em>her and yet they all acted like they heard every rumor about her. Yet, she still couldn't let them see they were getting to her. She devoted herself to her classes and grades. If she couldn't get someone to be her friend, then she would at least make them jealous of her brain.</p>
<p>Except they were all scared of her. The girls in her dorm heard the mutterings that came from her mouth as she slept. Saw the predictions unfold in front of their eyes. New rumors replaced the old, but this time Sybill couldn't escape. She was stuck, imprisoned, in the one place that was supposed to save her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, she realized she was in love. He was a kind boy that actually paid attention to her. He made her feel <em>wanted</em>. Her gift was actually a gift to him, and not a curse. She could finally be herself.</p>
<p>Her destructive thoughts lessened, and her loneliness disappeared. She finally had the savior she wished for. Someone by <em>her</em> side and not <em>theirs</em>.</p>
<p>People still whispered but it was hard to hear them over her fast heartbeat when his hand wrapped around hers. The laughter was drowned out by the fleeting touches he left on her skin.</p>
<p>At the age of fifteen, she finally had <em>someone</em>.</p>
<hr/>
<p>By her nineteenth year, she was married to the boy she fell in love with at fifteen. The wedding was small, practically nonexistent, but she was in love and that was what mattered.</p>
<p>She couldn't care less who showed up and who didn't. Sybill was only focused on him and no one else. Besides, she could still hear the whispers. Either they just haunted her, or they were actually happening. Sybill would never know since the sound was engraved into every fiber of her being.</p>
<p>She tried to hear him alone when he gave his speech, but the voices kept trying to breakthrough. Obviously, whatever controlled these thoughts of hers that didn't actually belong to her felt something needed to be said. She ignored them like she had been doing for years.</p>
<p>Sybill tried to stop the "nonsense" since she left Hogwarts. She tried to make a name for herself and find a decent job. But her reputation preceded her. No matter how hard she tried, Sybill couldn't get anyone to believe her that the predictions were over.</p>
<p>They only existed between her and the voice that whispered them to her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>At twenty-three, it started to crumble. Tensions rose between them as Sybill tried to figure out what to do. Her mind was breaking from the stress of holding <em>them</em> back. Her gift had been repressed for too long and the voices were becoming restless. Her muttering increased at night, waking him up. That was the first time he called her crazy.</p>
<p>The rain-soaked her as she ran away from him with only a simple bag of clothes. She had no idea where she was going but the pain of her heartbreak shattered her body. Her knees hit the asphalt, and shortly after a purple bus drove up to her. She boarded and stayed until she felt like getting off.</p>
<p>Sybill tried to not dwell on it for too long. That she was alone again. Everyone else was right when they called her a freak who wouldn't have a happy ending. She was doomed from the start.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Twenty-seven came and she arranged a meeting to become a professor at Hogwarts. Her gift was nearly gone, but that didn't mean she can't fake it. Sybill knew the art of Divination well enough to teach it; she didn't really need to prove she had it. Her grades from school would be enough of an indicator.</p>
<p>But Dumbledore didn't buy it. He could see through the terribly thin wall Sybill constructed. He read every movement and word and automatically <em>knew. </em>Sybill never figured out how except for the fact that her terrible acting led him to the answer. But how he knew before she barely even began surprised her.</p>
<p>She pleaded, begged, on her knees for him to give her a chance. Refusal to let her life be taken from her sparked through her veins. Sybill wanted to take it all back. She wanted the power for herself and she wouldn't let others take it from her anymore.</p>
<p>As he walked out the door the voices took over almost like they knew she needed help. The horrible words that flowed from her body without her consent made Dumbledore stay. This time was for real and he knew it. Sybill didn't want to see the horrible prophecy enact itself, but the words were already spoken.</p>
<p>At the age of twenty-seven, Sybill took her power back but gave it to the dark lord in a twisted turn of fate. The universe spoke him into existence and Sybill was the vessel. Horrible things would happen because they had been willed. Maybe they were all doomed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Originally posted on my Fanfiction.net page<br/>https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5665438/BetterYouThanMe</p></blockquote></div></div>
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